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Monday, March 9, 2015

Old Laments Never Die

I've heard it said, and I've even seen it written, that
spelling is no longer as important as the message put forth. Using “your” and “you’re”
interchangeably doesn't matter. Sprinkling “to”, “too” and “two” throughout
said message with nary a care is beneath notice.”There”, “their” and “they’re”
can be, and should be used as the writer sees fit, with no more thought expended
in their choosing than one would use in choosing a hanky with which to blow one’s
nose.

In short, those old-time, fuddy-duddy roles no longer
matter.

Nothing could be further from the truth.

While it may seem permissible to shorten the word “you” to “u”
or “are” to “r” to save space in your one hundred forty character masterpiece
of allegory, the illusion of such use being “ok” is simply that: an illusion.
It’s not okay, but one can’t stop progress.

However, in graphics, missives and blocks of text shared
with the rest of the populace, spelling is still important. I would venture to
say more important than ever before.

When someone says that the written word is there to serve
the writer’s message, it is hard to debate such a statement. But, we must deny
it. Because to allow it leads to the idea that all thoughts are equally
important, and none are to be dismissed. All are equal, all are valuable and
all ideas deserve to be heard.

This is simply not so. Ask any middle school teacher.

I had participated in a great program where a group of
adults went to a middle school to talk to the kids about engineering. I asked a
group of eighth graders to raise their hands if they had a cell phone, (almost
all of them did), and proceeded to tell them a quick history of the tech behind
it. I explained that most of their phones had more storage capability and
computing power than the rocket that took men to the moon forty-five years ago.

One kid, no doubt to impress his friends, asked, “Does that
mean my phone can fly to the moon?”

Yuk, yuk. Not all ideas are worth having. Or hearing.

Bad grammar, poor word choice, and misspellings used to
serve as an easy way to separate the wheat from the chaff. If something was
poorly written, its message didn't get out. It wasn't the reader’s job to pull
the writing apart and hunt for meaning like a pig rooting for truffles. It was
the writer’s job to spell correctly, structure a sentence properly and make it
easy for the reader to, well, read.

This, it would seem, is no longer the case.

It may be because the reader no longer requires that the
rules be followed, as long as the message is clear. Or, it may be that today’s
reader no longer wishes to spend precious energy on writer’s foibles that have
little chance of improving any time soon. Or, may the gods forbid, people just
don’t care about what used to be known as “good grammar and spelling” and are
now referred to as the purview of the “Grammar Nazi”.

Maybe it’s not an issue of “dumbing down” so much as an
issue of “You know what I mean.”

Yes, I know what you mean, but, I still notice when you use “to”
and you really mean “too”. I still think that a few moments of just looking
over what you've written before the rush to publish your heartfelt plea to the
world would serve you well in the credibility department. I still think
spelling matters.

And, don’t think the irony of you no longer caring about my message is lost on me. Because it’s not.

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About Me

Finished filming an original Anti-bullying Halloween themed video for kids K-4 called "A Caterpillar's Tale" in between original video productions like Noodle Boosters, (www.noodleboosterstore.com) and "Inside the Bubble" (www.jdsavage.com).

Finished my first original independent short film, "Bagels & Roles" (http://bit.ly/1ru6PVm) and am currently working on my first serious play. In between, I've painted a bunch of stuff which you can see by perusing around in my photos. Hoping to connect with and follow people more talented than me, from whom I can learn... 'cause really, isn't that the whole point?Part of the original G+ invite only beta.